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Learning the ropes of Social Science Research

Prof. Shashi Bhushan

‘Historical methods in Social Sciences’

The seventh day began with a session on ‘Historical Methods in Social Sciences’ by Prof. Shashi Bhushan where he traced the trajectory of methods of conducting research in the field of history.

He explained how history is constructed, who can actually write history and how the construction of history involves selection of events and exclusion of certain events.Though historians mostly rely on facts available through scriptures, texts, and various other sources but the most reliable are those sources which were written by the people who witness to the event or place i.e, the primary source about the event or place. The lecture introduced the concepts, perspectives and traditions in historiography, Positivist view of History, Marxist interpretation of History and Postmodernistic approach. He concluded the session emphasizing that ‘history is a narrative, which has a beginning, middle and end’.

Prof. Gita Bamezai

‘Communication Research’

Prof. Gita Bamezai, took the next session on ‘Communication research’ and its scenario in India. She explained how social science research in India has not yet evolved but is just duplication of western concepts trying to fit into the Indian context. She urged the students to have a multi and interdisciplinary approach in conducting research. Most of her lecture was focused on explaining the impact of media on our society. Media is ubiquitous and it guides our understanding by mediating every aspect of life. Prof Bamezai drew on different traditions in communication research like effects studies and behavioural studies in her lecture.

Dr. Mirza Ali Baig

‘Hypothesis Testing’

Dr. Mirza Alin Baig took extension classes on SPSS where he introduced the statistical methods like t-test, z-test, Null hypothesis and Hypothesis testing. He gave a theoretical explanation of the statistical methods and then conducted pratical sessions for students using SPSS software. The session was interactive, practical, which taught students to work on the statistical software and helped them understand the rationale behind various statistical methods.